Family: Please help us, lost phone has only photos of our baby who died

You know the panic you feel when you can’t find your phone? You think of the memories you haven’t downloaded, the pictures, the videos. It's awful.

But for a Charlotte mom, losing her cell phone means losing some of the last pictures she has of her little baby boy Ashton, who died in November.

Wednesday night, she forgot her Samsung Galaxy Note 5 inside the women’s bathroom at the QT gas station on Sunset Road in Charlotte. That’s between Statesville Road and I-77. Did you find it?

Her sister Christy reached out to me.

“Her phone has video and photos of my deceased 6-month-old nephew. She’s all torn to pieces and heartbroken about this," she said. "She hopes someone will turn it in. She can never get those pictures back without that phone.”

When I asked more about the child’s short life, a very tragic story unfolded. It started with a case of meningitis.

“It all happened so fast. She didn’t know he had meningitis. He went downhill so quickly, when he was admitted to the emergency room, he had already suffered so much damage from a stroke, loss of hearing, brain damage, it was just so awful," Christy recalled. "His mom, and my family, are still trying to find ways to cope with this tragedy and be strong. It’s just so hard, but we are trying to be strong. And now to lose all these precious memories on that phone…is devastating.”

When Ashton died, Christy made a video for her sister. It captures Ashton at the precious moments after birth. The family celebrating and pictures of Ashton as doctors at Levine Children’s hospital tried to save his life.

But these are just a few photos of the baby who died two days after he turned 6-months-old. You can imagine what a loss that phone is to mom and dad, and the entire family.

The family is asking, if you found a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 at the QT gas station, please call this number: 1-828-238-0494.

They won’t ask any questions. They just want the photos and videos of little Ashton. Please share this with friends.